The Olympics have come and gone, and aside from a few clips I watched on YouTube, I more or less missed it.
I certainly didn't make any effort to watch the millionaire athlete/actors pretend to love the USA when they won gold medals in basketball. They didn't do it for their country; they did it for them.
One time I happened to catch a quick glimpse of handball while at a
restaurant.
"These people train for years and years...to play handball."
"There are people in this world who react with delight when you point out that a game played in my living room with the couch cushions as the goals is being played by grown men with TV cameras present."
Those were a few of the thoughts going through my head as I watched.
That guy who won the 400 meter dash by .005 seconds was cool, I'll admit
that.
The hammer toss and javelin throwing... I admit it's impressive, but like handball, I ask myself, "What's the point?"
Badminton. Now there's a game that is undervalued in Western culture. When I lived in Vietnam, everyone played badminton. There were a few courts here and there; but mostly people just socked the birdie around on the sidewalk.
And to see it played at a high level like at the Olympics is amazing. You
owe it to yourself to search for Olympic badminton on YouTube.
But then the Olympics has breakdancing as an event.
That's right. Someone won a gold medal for breakdancing.
At the Olympics.
Between the mockery of the Last Supper at the opening ceremonies, which I discussed at length on the podcast, and the hyper-commercialism of the event, it just doesn't have the same charm as '88 when Greg Louganis won the gold medal
after hitting his head on a diving board a few days earlier.
Now that was exciting.
Nadia Comaneci taking a few weeks out of her school year to win 7 gold medals in '76.
That's what made the Olympics special.
This version of it does nothing for me.
I prefer to talk about and experience real things. It's why I started my podcast Ba Vojdaan!
It's real stuff, meant
to make your life better.
Give it a listen and subscribe at https://jamesdnewcomb.com/podcast
Be well,
James